More top-down BS

From Mrs. Ris over at Mentor Matters:

"...the county wants each classroom teacher to set up a classroom site on this same Blackboard system.... by Back to School Night! For some of us, that's within the first weeks of school. Without any training, we have to get something up ASAP. Now, I don't mind, I like figuring this stuff out, but the technologically impaired are going to freak out! "

There’s no doubt in my mind that every school district, every school, and every teacher, should have a web presence. Even dog-teachers (or is that teacher-dogs?). However, that web presence is meaningless unless it’s maintained and updated regularly. That requires comfort with and enthusiasm for the implementation.

So here we have an educational administration that “wants” something valuable. They implement it with a timeline that will, first of all, frustrate the living hell out of the “technologically impaired,” who will turn to the Mrs. Ris’s in the rooms next door pleading for help.

I don’t mind talking someone through the process – actually, I rather enjoy that kind of teaching – but some of those “T-I” teachers are deliberately so. They’ve realized that they can use ignorance as a crutch and get someone else to come running to bail them out every time. And here comes the frustration for those of us who “like figuring this stuff out.”

I’m sorry, but I really think this has to be developed laterally – teacher sharing with teacher- rather than from the top down.